Awkward FML It's Too Late
by Allijuana
Summary: Jenna has given the death blow to her and Matty's semi-secret relationship by deciding to follow her head instead of her heart and Matty has to find a way to deal…heartbreak aftermath sucks!
1. Chapter 1

Title: FML- It's too Late.

Author: Juana

Rating: T

Authors note: After last night's episodes I can't help but be intrigued by the thought of Jake being clueless about the Jenna and Matty situation as he embarks on a relationship with her. I'm still rooting for Matty and Jenna can't help myself but there are a lot of fun and angsty directions this situation can take.

Story summary: Jenna has given the death blow to her and Matty's semi-secret relationship by deciding to follow her head instead of her heart and Matty has to find a way to deal…heartbreak aftermath sucks!

So this is what it feels like to want to die thought Matty as he sat shell shocked in his truck. He had come to the winter formal to convince Jenna that he was all in this relationship with her and that he had been being, as she said, a pussy.

And he'd had nothing but good intentions, as corsage in hand he had walked into the dance to find her and had been subjected to her and Jake in a steamy lip-lock.

It had felt like a cross between a knock-out punch and a gut kick as his eyes had processed to his brain what he was seeing, which had quickly translated to his heart the death blow he was now feeling, the wind knocked out of him and all his good intentions.

He'd wanted to bolt before either Jake or Jenna spotted him but he couldn't seem to find the strength, without saying a word Jenna's actions had wrecked him and he was a hot mess of hurt feelings and maybe even a little sense of betrayal.

It was a nightmare of epic proportions as he had watched the girl who had his heart and his best friend walk hand in hand over to him. He'd never seen Jake look so happy, but the look of misery on Jenna's face was getting pretty familiar and he knew it was because he was the one responsible for always putting it there.

As usual Jake had been the bigger and better guy, actually feeling bad for him as he taken one last shot to ask Jenna without actually saying the words, because he didn't want to out her to Jake, to give him another chance and she had shut him down.

It was too damn late and it was only himself that he could blame for that as he finally started up his truck and prepared to leave the parking lot. All he wanted now was to get the hell out of there and get drunk, really…really…black-out , don't remember your middle name drunk.

As he put the car in reverse and turned his head to make sure there was no one behind him he was startled by a knock at his car window. Turning quickly he saw who was there and managed a half smile as he rolled down his window.

"Hey Ming, what's up?"

He liked Jenna's friends a lot they were an odd bunch but they were also completely comfortable in their own skin, something he was still working on defining for himself…sometimes he felt like he had no idea who he was.

"Promise you won't blow me off?"

"Okay…I promise."

"And that you will hear me out until I say I'm done?"

"Cryptic, but fine…yeah all the way to the bitter end."

"Good. Jenna sent me."

Even the sound of her name punched holes in his heart now.

"She did?"

"Well okay…sort of sent me."

"How does someone sort of send you?"

"Does it really matter?" Ming said clearly on her own little mission now.

"No, I guess not…but I got to be honest, I'm not sure what you could say right now that would make me feel any better."

"I really like Jake, he's a good guy."

"Especially that…god you suck at this."

"You didn't let me finish."

Honestly now Matty wasn't sure he wanted her to. Of course Jake was a good guy, maybe even the better guy, but right now he was the last person Matty wanted to extol the virtues of.

"Jake isn't the guy for Jenna."

Although it was nice to hear, Matty knew it wasn't true.

"Ming, you're wrong. Jake is the perfect guy for Jenna, the kind of guy Jenna deserves."

"Okay yeah Jake is like super nice and good looking and …"

"Do you have a point here?" Matty said begging her to end this torture now.

"He's not you."

Lord knows that was true. Matty knew he and Jake were as different as night and day and always had been.

"That can only work to his benefit." Matty admitted.

"I'm not going to lie to you Matty, you screwed up royally keeping Jenna a secret for so long, making her feel like she didn't measure up to your life, but I know Jenna and this is fixable."

"She told me it was too late and she seemed pretty sure about it."

Ming wanted to say more but stopped herself as she saw Jake and Jenna approaching now.

"Hey we thought you left, we're bailing on the dance now, did you want to join us at the after party we are going to?"

Matty saw Jenna visibly tense next to Jake who he noticed was still holding on tightly to her hand.

"Nah, I'm good."

"Aw, come on McKibben what are you gonna do, go home and wallow over some girl who obviously doesn't get that you are a great guy?"

Met by silence Jake continued on with his persuasive argument.

"I've never seen a girl take you down before McKibben."

"Well this one was pretty special." Matty admitted cringing on the inside as Jake let go of Jenna's hand to put his arm around her now.

"All the more reason to come out with us, have a few drinks and find one of your fan club groupies, to help get her out of your system."

"I don't think that's such a good idea."

Probably the worst idea ever thought Jenna who could feel the next sentence she was trying to choke down working its way back up her throat and out her vocal cords before she could stop it.

"No, you should come."

Matty wasn't sure what had possessed Jenna in that moment to make such a statement, but if it was an olive branch he was determined to hang on to it.

"Okay, just give me the address and I'll meet you there." He said more to Jenna than anyone else, but it was a bond that was still only obvious to them and well of course Ming.

"You should come in the limo with us." Jake said happy now that his best friend wasn't going to be flying solo tonight when he'd obviously been victim to a heart break hit and run.

"You got a limo…"

Just another reminder of how much better Jake was than him at knowing how to keep a girl happy.

"You can't do a formal without a limo dude."

"Course you can't." Matty said a touch of sarcasm in his response now.

Inside the limo Matty took a seat next to Ming and Vera, a seat which unfortunately gave him a front row seat for the Jenna and Jake show. Jenna had given Jake the green light means go on their relationship and Jake was not one to waste a single minute as he alternated between nuzzling her neck and kissing her.

Unable to take it any longer Matty leaned over and whispered into Ming's ear.

"This is f****** torture."

Ming couldn't help but feeling sorry for the guy.

"I'm sorry." She whispered back.

Jenna was doing her best not to appear as uncomfortable as she felt. She'd followed her head into the beginning of a relationship with Jake and in the very least he deserved her to be all in it.

But even though her body and lips were, her mind clearly wasn't as every time she closed her eyes she imagined it was Matty kissing her only to open her eyes for confirmation and realize it wasn't.

It was Jake.

FML…she thought how was this ever going to work when just like tonight Matty would always be far too near as he lived on inside her heart.

As the limo pulled up to the party and everyone started to get out Jake stopped Matty.

"Can I talk to you for a second bro?"

"I'll just wait inside," Jenna said her level of discomfort escalating now at the closeness of Matty to her face now.

Matty sat back down as Jake closed the limo door for privacy before talking to his friend.

"I know what you're thinking man."

It was just like Jake thought Matty to want to fix everyone.

"You do?"

"Yeah, you're thinking this thing with Jenna is too soon after Lissa."

"Oh…yeah…right…maybe a little too soon," Matty said relieved now that Jake really had no idea what he was truly thinking.

"See I don't think it is though…she's pretty amazing you know."

"I do," more than you could possibly know or understand thought Matty now.

"I kind of think this is it," Jake confessed once again putting his feelings out there.

"It?" Matty questioned hoping he was just misunderstanding his friend.

"Yeah…like she's the one."

"You're sixteen dude and this your first date with her." Matty said desperation in his voice now.

"My mom and dad started dating at sixteen. Besides you know me man, I'm not like you…I like being in a relationship and Jenna; well she just makes things so easy."

Not for him she didn't thought Matty, for him she had made everything more complicated as he had struggled with his need to be accepted by his friends while wanting, so completely and desperately to be with her. He'd let his social standing win and now he was paying for that big time.

"I'm happy for you man." Matty said trying his best to keep the sincerity in his voice. It seemed odd to feel anything but brotherly love for Jake but in this moment he kind of hated him for having the balls to grab for the brass ring with Jenna. He'd taken a risk with her and the reward was getting to be with her, something Matty sensed deep down inside was going to slowly kill him as, he being Jake's best friend, would be forced to watch it.

"Thanks. I think there may be a problem though. It's why I asked you to hang back for a minute."

"Okay…what's the problem?"

"I think there's another guy."

Matty felt his face start to heat up now and a feeling of dread creep over him.

"What makes you think that?"

"Call it a hunch. Someone else was supposed to take her to the dance tonight and I'm not sure but I think she was pretty bummed it didn't happen."

"That doesn't mean anything." Matty said trying to reassure his best friend now.

"There's more, she told me a while back that there was a guy she liked but it wasn't going to work out because he had a girlfriend, I thought at the time she was talking about me, but now I'm convinced it was this guy who was suppose to take her to the formal."

"Even if it was, she's with you now."

"Right, which is all great and stuff, except…"

"What?"

"Well call me paranoid, but I don't want to be anyone's pinch hitter…especially not with Jenna. I really like her dude."

And twist the knife a little more Rosati was all Matty could think now.

"So you think she's still into this guy?" Matty said a little more hopeful than he should have.

"Maybe…I don't know. It's why I want you to help me."

"Help you how?"

"Help me find out who the guy is. I would just feel better if I knew who my competition was."

"I actually think you should leave it alone."

"You do?"

"Yeah, Hamilton is pretty straight forward, if she wants you to know who the mystery guy is I'm sure she'll tell you."

There is no way in hell she is ever going to tell you Matty thought silently now. Not if she wanted this thing with her and Jake to work.

"So are you saying you won't help me then - bro I would totally do this for you."

Matty knew Jake would and he obviously wasn't going to be letting go of this desire for knowledge anytime soon. The best he could do was give his friend what he wanted and warn Jenna that he was on to her.

"Sure…okay…I'll keep my eyes and ears open for you."

"Excellent. I guess we should get inside then and go find everyone."

"Yep, lead me to the closest beer."

"And the easiest cheerleader," Jake added remembering that Matty had problems of his own to solve too.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: FML – It's Too Late Pt.2

Author: Juana

Story Summary: Jenna made her choice at the dance, but second guessing is just part of her nature and Tamara is determined to make Jenna weigh her options.

Rating: T

Jenna sat inside the party waiting for Jake and Matty to come inside, her mind going ninety miles a minute. She was pretty sure that Matty would keep quiet about their secret relationship, but suddenly she began to wonder about the trail from the people who knew about her and Matty to Jake.

Tamara was thinking pretty much the same thing as she approached her friend.

"How's it going?" Tamara was beaming from ear to ear and Jenna couldn't have been happier for her, she had been swept off her feet by Ricky Schwartz at the dance and she was living her fairy tale.

"I'm surviving," Jenna offered.

"I saw the whole thing with Matty…that was toats brutal J."

"Yeah…I have the image of it all burned into my brain," Jenna admitted.

"So what are you going to do about Matty?" Tamara asked.

That was the prominent question in her mind now too. It wasn't like telling him it was over really made it over for her. She still ached for him and what they had shared, a part of her wishing she'd never called him out on anything.

"I'm giving my Matty obsession a rest – it's the only thing that is fair to Jake."

"Well you're like way Wonder Woman stronger than me…I caved like a bad soufflé the minute Ricky told me he wanted to be with just me."

"Do you think I should have given Matty another chance?" Jenna asked second guessing everything in that moment.

"That's like an a Dr. Phil problem – you and Matty have mad history and chemistry, but Jake's like a cute factor of 10 after tonight and he's obvs smitten with you it's like choosing between a cute cuddly kitten aka Jake or an adorable Matty puppy."

"So I guess I need to decide if I'm a cat person or a dog one," Jenna lamented.

"And quick because both species are headed your way," Tamara said pointing to Jake and Matty as they came through the front door.

It wasn't really her choice to make anymore though, she'd sent a clear message to both Matty and Jake at the dance when she'd taken Jake's hand in hers – or at least she thought she had.

"Hey…"Jake said putting his arm around Jenna now.

"Hey yourself," she answered back doing her best to give him her undivided attention now.

"I'm outie, see you guys later," Tamara said as she left Jenna facing the two men who were turning her life upside down although in very different way.

"Yeah…me too," Matty said in a hurry now to distance himself from the pain that was coursing through him at the sight of a coupled Jake and Jenna.

It wasn't like Matty not to enjoy a good party, but this one's suckage level was pretty high right now. The beer was just barely giving him a buzz and it seemed like every corner he turned he ran into someone or something that reminded him of Jenna.

He was about ready to bail when Tamara pulled him into another room to join in a game of suck and blow. As she sat him down in the circle he realized it was right next to Jenna.

"Okay, we have our last victim now…so I'll explain the rules for those nubiles who haven't played before."

Matty was doing his best not to look at Jenna now and he could tell she was fighting the same fight.

"The object of the game is to suck the playing card on to your mouth like this," Tamara said demonstrating her best hoover maneuver.

"And then you lean in towards the other person and they suck it from your mouth to theirs while you blow…easy peasy."

"Here's the rub a dub dub though, you fail and you have pay the piper with a kiss for thirty seconds."

Instantly Jenna's hand shot up.

"Yes Hamilton."

"Can I be excused?"

"Only when you fail. You mess up you pay the piper and you and your fellow fail-bot are eliminated and so it goes until only two people are left holding the card."

"Any more questions?"

When nobody raised their hand Tamara smiled and handed the card to Jenna before sitting back down in the circle next to Ricky.

"Okay then Jenna get to sucking," Tamara prompted.

FML thought Jenna with Tamara as a friend who needed enemies.

Unable to stall any longer Jenna sucked the card to her mouth and turned to Jake who successfully sucked the card away and proceeded to card lock with Lissa who was on his other side and so on and so on until the circle got all the way around to Matty whose mission it was to pass the card on to Jenna's lips and he did but it took every ounce of willpower on his part not to just let it drop.

The first couple to bomb out was Lissa and her date Marcus and they were quickly ushered into the middle of the circle for a very public 30 second kiss fest.

Jenna could only imagine on how many levels this game could go horribly wrong as one couple after another dropped out after dropping the card and every turn of the circle with Matty it was getting just that much harder for her to distance her body's reaction to his closeness. She wanted to kiss him so bad now it hurt.

Matty had had enough now too, so much so that he was contemplating purposefully dropping the card and publicly kissing Sadie to get the hell out of there. He knew Sadie had been trying to get it to drop on every turn of the circle. Still he hung on though because kissing Sadie was really the last thing he wanted to do.

As he sucked the card away from Sadie's mouth he knew he was going to do something really stupid even as he did it, blowing way too hard on the card for Jenna to be able to suck fast enough. And he knew Jenna wasn't happy with him as she closed her eyes with the realization of what had just happened and even more so what was going to have to happen before this game was over for the both of them.

"Way to suck McKibben," Jake teased not even remotely aware how purposeful Matty's maneuver had been.

Suddenly the chant around the circle, started, Jenna was pretty sure by Tamara.

Kiss, kiss, kiss…everyone repeated over and over.

"Time to pay the piper Hamkibben," Tamara said speaking up.

Jenna shot her friend a dirty look as she got up from the circle and Matty reluctantly joined her.

As Tamara got ready to start the 30 second countdown Matty realized that this would probably be the last kiss he ever shared with Jenna and it fueled his desire to make it one she would not soon forget.

Jenna knew she was in trouble as she stood in front of Matty, he wore a determined look and for the next 30 seconds her lips were his and he made it clear from the first meeting of their lips and his hands on her face that he wasn't going to waste a second of it.

He was singularly focused on her and the rest of the world just kind of melted away for the both of them. It felt so amazing to be in his arms again that Jenna just let go and did her best to hang onto every precious second.

But reality kicked in the minute Jake spoke up.

"Easy there Mckibben…that's my girlfriend you're mauling there."

God, they'd been together less than 24 hours and Jake already had no problem displaying his affections for Jenna thought Matty.

"Sorry dude," Matty said in a half hearted apology, he wasn't really sorry at all.

Breathless now Jenna slunk out of the circle and went to sit down on the couch across from the game. She was embarrassed and conflicted big time. The last person she needed around her was Matty but he joined her any way.

"You dropped that card on purpose," she accused as he took the seat beside her.

"Sue me."

"Or I could just slap you."

"Whatever. I'm pretty topped out on the pain scale right now anyway."

"Matty…"

"Save it Jenna, consider that our goodbye kiss," he said getting up now to leave.

He'd had enough of this party…and this night for that matter.

She knew she shouldn't follow him, but she couldn't help herself she was up and on her feet the minute he left.

She saw him get in the limo and said a few forgive me fathers like she'd seen Lissa do, before heading in after him and shutting the door.

He was lying on the seat but sat bolt upright as soon as she did.

"We need to talk," she said sitting a safe distance away from him now.

"I don't really have anything else to say."

"Are we going to be able to be friends?" Jenna asked. It wasn't all she wanted she wanted, she wanted more, but she knew it was really all she had the right to ask for now.

"I think I proved with that kiss, that isn't going to be possible for us."

"What about you and Jake, he's your best friend."

"Yeah…I don't really know. I haven't had a lot of time to process any of this," he admitted.

It really hit him now for the first time how much was going to be changed in his life after tonight. Jenna was right, Jake was his best bud, but he knew he wasn't going to be able to watch him developing something real with Jenna and be his sounding board like he had been with Lissa and the other girls Jake had dated since they had become friends.

Jenna knew there was one more pressing question on her mind, and she was afraid to ask it, but she knew she had to.

"Are you going to tell Jake about us?"

Matty sighed, running his hands through his hair now in a frustrated gesture.

"That seems like a really bad idea."

"I agree, but what if he finds out somehow?"

"I guess we deal with it then…it's not like you cheated on him."

"I would want to know if he had sex with Tamara or Ming," Jenna offered.

Suddenly Matty tensed as he realized the implications of that statement.

"You're not going to sleep with him are you?"

Jenna hadn't really put much thought into the where do we go from here agenda with Jake until just now.

"I am dating him…I suppose eventually it would happen," she hated admitting that, but it would have been a lie to say otherwise. She was no Lissa and in a relationship sex was a level that deepened things.

"I have to go," Matty said reaching for the door now, but Jenna put her hand out to stop him.

"Matty, I'm sorry."

"Yeah…me too."

Matty felt like his heart had been put into a blender now and someone had hit frappe.

"Jake is a lucky guy Jenna…you're pretty amazing."

Jenna wanted so bad to hug Matty and in that moment it seemed right and appropriate, he was her friend and so much more and she knew she was going to miss him.

The kiss that followed however was more of an accident as she realized there was a tear slipping down his face, she had wiped it off and he had begun kissing her.

It wasn't a passionate, I need you type of moment, it was their official goodbye the way it should have been, in private and between just the two of them as every ounce of his and her aching heart went into their final intimate moment with a slow and deliberate kiss that reached into both of their souls.

"I messed up Jenna…I'm sorry," Matty admitted as he now wiped at the tears that were slipping down her face.

"I forgive you," she said exiting the limo now. It was time to get back to her real reality where she had Jake waiting for her. It was time to let go of Mattie and release him to find someone who would make her happy like she knew Jake was going to make her.


End file.
